Abstract:
This article approaches traditional leadership disputes
amongst and within Venda royal houses over the past
three decades (from the end of grand apartheid to the
presidency of Mr Cyril Ramaphosa) while investigating
the reasons for the importance of such traditional
leadership positions in modern South Africa. In the light
of the most recent disputes around the right of women
to ascend to the highest Venda authority, historical
precedents around practices of female leadership
amongst the Vhavenda are considered. Amongst the
continuities observed, are the inevitable limitations
to traditional authority: a need to be legitimated from
“within” and sanctioned from “above”, by whoever
controls the greater nation-state. The discontinuities
can be observed in the nature of the arguments on both
sides. The historical account pays attention to popular
protests, government-appointed commissions, court
cases and appeals to the principles of equality in the
South African constitution.
